Bautista Compares Disney to Trump, Refuses to Let Gunn Firing Go

4 months ago

Dave Bautista has once again decided to blast Disney over their decision to fire James Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. It recently came to light that the studio will stick to their original decision and will not rehire Gunn as director of the upcoming Marvel movie. This, despite pressure from the cast, many notable figures in the industry and possibly even Marvel Studios to rethink things. In the wake of the news, Bautista took to Twitter to display his distaste. Here’s what he had to say.

The wrestler-turned-actor, who plays Drax in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, made the statement with a clearly sarcastic tone. He also invoked President Donald Trump‘s famous campaign slogan, in essence, comparing the studio he’s working for and by the far the biggest studio in Hollywood, to President Trump in the process. Somewhat ironically, it was James Gunn’s comments against Trump on social media that led to conservative bloggers digging up his old tweets that ultimately got him fired.

The tweets in question were from years ago, some as far back as a decade, but the content, though intended to be humorous, was “indefensible,” as Disney chairman Alan Horn put it. The subject matter contained in the tweets included topics such as rape and pedophilia. James Gunn had previously apologized for the tweets and apologized once again after they resurfaced. That made no difference as Disney was quick to fire him. Dave Bautista was the first member of the Guardians cast to speak out in Gunn’s defense and has been by far the most vocal member of the cast, in terms of voicing his disagreement over Disney’s decision.

At one point, Dave Bautista went so far as to say that he would not participate in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 unless James Gunn’s script was used. It looks like that is going to happen. However, with Bautista’s comments not slowing down, it’s not difficult to imagine Disney taking some action and possibly reducing, or even removing, Bautista from the movie on their own. They’re clearly trying to move past the situation. The entire cast signed a letter in support of Gunn, but nobody else has been quite so feverish publically with their comments. Chris Pratt called it a “complicated situation for everybody.”

Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige reportedly stood by Disney’s decision to not rehire James Gunn. No replacement director has been announced yet and no possible names have come to light, but a search is underway. The popular fan suggestion is to have Thor: Ragnarok‘s Taika Waititi step in. Production had been scheduled to begin in January on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, though, it’s quite possible that could be bumped back while the situation is sorted out. The movie has not yet been given a release date by the studio. You can check out the most recent comments from Dave Bautista’s Twitter account for yourself below.